290
mandate is too essential to the nation’s welfare to leave
so much of the machinery under the control of narrow
private interests.
Concentration of economic and financial power in the United States
has gone too far."
In a section of the text entitled "The Club System", the Committee
noted:
"This ‘club’ approach leads the Federal Reserve to consistently dip into
the same pools—the same companies, the same universities, the same
bank holding companies--to fill directorships."
This Congressional study concludes as follows:
177
"Many of the companies on these tables, as mentioned earlier, have
multiple interlocks to the Federal Reserve System. First Bank Systems;
Southeast Banking Corporation; Federated Department Stores;
Westinghouse Electric Corporation; Proctor and Gamble; Alcoa;
Honeywell, Inc.; Kennecott Copper; Owens-Corning Fiberglass; all
have two or more director ties to district or branch banks.
In Summary, the Federal Reserve directors are apparently
representatives of a small elite group which dominates much of the
economic life of this nation." END OF CONGRESSIONAL REPORT.
178